Top story

Global Gateway Forum: A closed-door gathering which fundamentally changes the EU's development landscape

Instead of a meaningful space to consider the role of the Global Gateway in sustainable development, last week’s Global Gateway Forum was a closed-door PR event dominated by politicians and business leaders, and where civil society and trade union voices were conspicuously absent.

Read our press reaction here.

Blogs

Green Climate Fund Replenishment sends some signals – Just not the right ones

by Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung

We are just weeks away from this year’s COP28 climate summit, where one of the core tasks will be to attempt to restore the trust between developed and developing countries. In order to raise the collective ambition and actions towards implementing the Paris Agreement, the recent pledging conference in Bonn for the second replenishment of the Green Climate Fund (GCF-2) sent some important signals but not the ones civil society had been hoping for.

Read the analysis here. 

From the frontlines to the center: Southeast Asia’s climate emergency and the imperative to decolonize climate finance

by The Reality of Aid Network

The urban poor, rural and coastal communities of Southeast Asia are exposed to the threats of climate change, such as extreme weather events and rising sea levels. Disproportionately impacted by the climate emergency, Southeast Asia critically needs resources in order to adapt and mitigate the impacts of the climate emergency. 

Read the article here. 

Feminist from MENA and global south reflections on Marrakech Annual Meetings

by Menafem movement

Activists from the MENA region and global south reflect on the Marrakech Annual Meetings and their outcomes. 

Read the blogs here. 

Reports

MDBs’ partnerships with international climate funds

by Climate Finance Advisory Service (CFAS)

The international climate finance architecture is a complex landscape in which multilateral development banks (MDBs) play a prominent role. This discussion brief from Climate Finance Advisory Service looks in more detail at the MDBs’ role in the broader climate finance architecture, in the context of potential reform of the international financial architecture.

Read the report here.

UBS and Santander’s ‘green’ bonds linked to deforesters and rancher accused of slave labour in Brazil

by Greenpeace

The European banks UBS and Santander have raised hundreds of millions of pounds of “green” bonds that were partly intended for farmers and ranchers accused of environmental and human rights abuses in Brazil.

Read the investigation here.

Useful resources

Unsettled Debt - Africa, the climate crisis & you

by Africa Data Hub

This interactive website shows how Africa is trapped in the debt-fossil fuel cycle while experiencing record-high local temperatures, caused by the burning of fossil fuels in the global north.  

See the graphs here. 

Fossil-free ECAs website

This website showcases OECD countries that provide fossil-fuel export subsidies through their Export Credit Agencies (ECA) and the project through which these subsidies are channelled. It is part of the civil society campaign to end ECA support for oil, gas and coal.

Visit the website here. 

Vacancies

Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer - Development Finance Team

Eurodad | Brussels | Deadline: 15 November

Policy and Advocacy Adviser – International Financial Institutions

Amnesty International | Multiple locations | Deadline: 13 November

Events

14 November | The future of aid under threat: What the new rules for Private Sector Instruments mean for aid budgets

Join us for a webinar bringing together aid experts from the global south and the global north to discuss the extent to which the agreement to approve the reporting of private sector investment as aid will impact concessional finance in the years to come.

Register for the webinar here. 

21 November | Blended finance for climate action - Risks and opportunities of an emerging agenda

Blended finance – a combination of concessional finance with other public or private resources – is increasingly portrayed as a key tool to achieve that goal, at a time when global north countries have failed to meet their climate finance promises. Is this solution working? This webinar will cover the key features of this agenda, and explore the challenges and opportunities that this approach presents.

Register for the webinar.

8 - 17 November | 'It’s the debt that you owe': debt, colonialism, and resistance

The exhibition ‘It’s the debt that you owe’: debt, colonialism, and resistance’, curated by Debt Justice, will be held at Peckham Levels, London from 8-17 November, featuring visual and performance work by 12 artists investigating how the legacy of colonialism has led to the debt crisis of today.

Find more information here

This newsletter has been produced with co-funding from the European Union, Bread for the World and Norad. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of Eurodad and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the funders.